Sunday, June 19, 2016

There are Amazon.com affiliate links on pretty much all of my websites. The "big three" are Atlas Quest, Walking 4 Fun, and The Soda Can Stove--those are the websites that get the most traffic and therefore the most clicks. What happens when you click on a link is that Amazon.com puts a cookie on your computer to track where you clicked from, then if you buy anything from the website for the next day or so, they send me a tiny fraction of the sale price. It doesn't really add up to much, although I'm not actually sure if their terms of service allows me to post precise numbers so I'm not going to. (Sometimes companies are a bit protective in this manner. I know Google AdSense doesn't allow me to post that sort of information.)

Anyhow.... my Amazon affiliate account will also tell me what people bought. So I can see what sells well, or doesn't sell well, or whatever. I don't know who is buying this stuff, but I do know what you're buying!

And I thought it would be fun to share some of the more interesting items that people are buying.... So here's information about what people have bought in the past 30 days.

A lot of the items are stuff that you'd expect from a letterboxing website:

Most items, you can probably guess what website the link came from.... There's a certain amount of overlap for some, though, such as books about trails. They could have come from The Soda Can Stove website if they were looking to make their own soda can stoves, but they might have come from Walking 4 Fun if they were virtually walking the trail and wanted to learn more about it. Actual guidebooks about a trail, however, I suspect more likely come from The Soda Can Stove. You don't need a guidebook to virtually walk a trail--you need it to actually walk it! But stories about a trail... many people might be interested about those whether they do the trail for real or virtually.

So some people bought books about the Camino de Santiago--both the French and Spanish sections. The same person, I assume, also bought a Michelin map of France. Another person bought a Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Rim Trails book. Another person bought a map and guidebook of Vermont's Long Trail. Another person picked up the fascinating story of the Florida Keys Overseas Railway. (I'm getting tired of adding links to each of the products, so I'm skipping them here!)

A lot of backpacking gear tends to show up in the list as well, which I assume most of those links come from The Soda Can Stove:

Klean-Strip GSL26 Denatured Alcohol (1-gallon) -- Denatured alcohol is used for fuel in soda can stoves, but even I was surprised that someone would buy a gallon of it. That's a lot of fuel. I could probably hike the entire Appalachian Trail with that much fuel! Two other people were more moderate in their purchases buying the quart-sized option.

Sawyer Squeezable Pouches -- Used with the Sawyer water treatment filter. I love my Sawyer Squeeze. Although I don't treat water on most of my hikes, I used this on the Arizona Trail extensively and never got sick. And trust me, that water was nasty! The squeezable part eventually failed and started leaking, though. I suspect whoever bought this had the same problem! The filter might last all-but-forever, but the container for water doesn't!

Solo Stove with Backup Alcohol Burner -- Obviously purchased by someone who decided that buying one for NINETY DOLLARS (!?!?!?!?) was better making one themselves for almost nothing. Heck, I'd have been willing to make him one myself for half that price!

Then there's a random assortment of stuff which could have come from anywhere, really.....

Natures Bounty Odor Free Garlic -- I have my doubts about an "odor-free" garlic. I kind of wonder if this was purchased by a backpacker, though. Allegedly, eating lots of garlic can ward off mosquitoes. I don't think it really works--an urban legend kind of thing--but if you're desperate, you might try anything!

Military Outdoor Clothing (Never Issued!) 2 Qt Canteen with 2 Qt Desert Canteen Cover -- Okay, this one almost certainly came from The Soda Can Stove, but that's not something a backpacker would carry. Way too heavy! We generally prefer old water bottles (cheap and light!) or ridiculously expensive "hydration systems" (not cheap, but still light!)

Anyhow.... so that's some (most) of the stuff y'all bought in the past 30 days. About 60% of the purchases come through Atlas Quest. The Soda Can Stove brings in about 25% of the total, while Walking 4 Fun brings in the remaining 15%.

It's okay to buy embarrassing stuff, Trekkie Gal! Remember, Amazon only shows me WHAT people buy--not who buys it! I'll have no idea that it was you, and embarrassing stuff will give me much more to blog about! =)